ANAS Sarwar has urged the UK Government to look into bringing in a family reunion scheme to enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their loved ones in the UK.
The Gaza Families Reunited campaign has long called on the UK Government to create a scheme, building on the Ukraine Family Scheme, to provide temporary sanctuary to Palestinians until it is safe to return to Gaza.
The current system allows only for partners and children under 18 to join family in the UK – thus excluding close relative including parents, siblings and their children.
A petition run by the campaign – and publicly supported by The National – reached the 100,000 signature threshold to secure a Westminster debate in May.
MPs – including from the Labour Party – unanimously backed the scheme during the debate. The Scottish Government also pushed for the scheme, including then first minister Humza Yousaf.
But the then Tory government refused, instead saying it was “under review”.
So far, under the new Labour Government, this position hasn’t changed – with a spokesperson telling The National this week that the Government is still “keeping all existing pathways under review”.
But now, Sarwar – the Scottish Labour leader – has urged the Home Office and Keir Starmer (below) to take action.
“Every possible effort must be made to help those in Gaza, including Palestinians with family in Britain,” he told The National.
“I encourage the UK Government to look at family reunion for Palestinians with family in Britain, including adaptations or alternatives to the current biometric requirement.”
The current path for Palestinians in Gaza to obtain a UK visa is far from simple.
Amid the devastation and risk of death – more than 41,534 have been killed so far by Israel according to the health ministry – there is also no functioning visa centre.
Meanwhile, the Home Office has repeatedly refused to waive fingerprint rules meaning that many resort, if possible, to making the dangerous and expensive journey over the border to Egypt to the closest UK visa centre in Cairo – still with no guarantee of obtaining a UK visa.
The Sunday National previously spoke with Palestinian-Scots including Doaa – who has lived in Glasgow for five years with her husband and daughter.
She described the horror of watching events unfold in Gaza as her entire family – from her mother and her siblings to the whole extended family – were trapped.
Many Palestinians in the UK have resorted to launching fundraising campaigns to obtain the necessary funds to pay smuggling companies at the border to Egypt.
But Doaa told The National that she decided not to as her family “deserves protection and respect”.
“We pay tax, we are contributing to this country. And we deserve for our families to be protected in a similar way to the Ukrainian scheme,” she said.
The Gaza Families Reunited Campaign welcomed Sarwar’s comments and backing.
A spokesperson said: "Introducing a Gaza Family Scheme to enable Palestinians to reunite with their loved ones in the UK has never been more urgent.
“When it was in opposition, the Labour Party sought to hold the old government to account over the challenges Palestinian families face in seeking to reunite in the UK. Now that it is in power, it must take decisive action to act on those principles and ensure families are able to be reunited in temporary sanctuary in the UK until it is safe to return to Gaza."
